When we introduced Rotary Club Central in 2012, it revolutionized goal tracking and planning for clubs and districts — no more filling out paper club-planning forms or passing along boxes of historical club information every time a new leader took office.
Rotary Club Central offered clubs and districts a quantifiable way to begin measuring local and global impact, specifically membership initiatives, service activities, and Rotary Foundation giving.
But as with any technological advancement, in a few short years, Rotary Club Central began to show its age, and Rotarians took notice. They...

At its January 2017 meeting, the Rotary International Board of Directors adopted a new zone structure for Rotary clubs.
Rotary bylaws require the Board to complete a comprehensive review of the 34 Rotary zones no less often than every eight years to ensure that each zone has an approximately equal number of Rotarians. The Board’s previous review of the zones occurred in 2008.
The Board earlier approved the creation of three regional workgroups to develop rezoning proposals for Asia, Europe/Africa, and the Americas. These workgroups comprised one representative (either a current director,...

Through The Rotary Foundation, Rotary members have supported thousands of projects that promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, save mothers and children, support education, and grow local economies. We’ve also led the fight to eradicate polio worldwide. As part of our celebration of the Foundation’s centennial, we’re honoring 20 global grant projects with special recognition. Learn more about the projects using our interactive map.

The Atlanta Host Organization Committee is offering some good old-fashioned Southern hospitality at the Rotary International Convention from 10 to 14 June. It has planned a wide range of activities featuring everything from good food and music to inspiring tours of local landmarks. If it’s your first convention, these events are chances to meet fellow Rotarians from around the world, and if you’re an experienced convention goer, you can catch up with old friends.
Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Aaron will host Rotarians for a “Strike Out Polio” night at the new SunTrust Park, where you’ll...

When Teguest Yilma helped found the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Entoto in 2002, she thought polio had already been eradicated from most of the world. But while Ethiopia had been free of the disease, Yilma was shocked to learn that new cases had started cropping up in surrounding countries such as Somalia.
“I was thinking, it’s not possible, we can’t be free if the countries around us are not free,” she says. Yilma, the managing editor of Capital, Ethiopia’s largest English weekly newspaper, has brought a journalist’s skills to the fight against polio. She became vice chair of the Ethiopia...

Below you will find two updates on our pending trip to Ukraine. Please read through to the end. There are two motions that will come to the club once the team has returned and assuming they are satisfied that the project should be undertaken. These motions have been bolded.

Update on the Rivne Blind Project (August 2017)

Everything is on track for the Alliston team to leave for Ukraine on Friday, September 29th and return on Thanksgiving Saturday, October 7th. All members, at their own expense, are spending two days in Warsaw on the way to Rivne.

Our team (Jack, David, Sue, Irene, Bill, and Roger) had a meeting to discuss some of the specific details of the trip. Since then we have learned that our government is offering Rotary clubs in certain countries (Ukraine is one that has been approved) additional grants. So if the team approves our project for the blind, we will be asking the club to consider the following motion: (note that the wording is slightly different than the one you saw at our initial presentation in July)

“That the Rotary Club of Alliston be the lead club in a proposed global grant, together with a Government of Canada grant totaling $65,000 USD, to improve the education and socialization of the blind and visually impaired children and adults of the Rivne province and use $5,000 USD of Alliston’s World Community Service funds designated from team donations”

The new funding for the grant is as follows:

Rotary Club of Alliston $ 5,000

Rotary Club of Richmond Hill $ 2,000

Rotary Toronto $ 3,000

District Designated Funds (DDF) $ 10,000

Government of Canada $ 20,000

World Fund of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) $ 35,000

Total $ 65,000

NB. The $5,000 from Alliston does not come from the 2017-18 club charitable account for funds raised. The money comes from both team money left over from Tanzania 2014 and the Ukraine team 2017 money.

The team was not aware of the government grants but after a discussion we felt that we could not overlook this opportunity, since we will not have to use any more money than originally proposed for a total of $35,000. This will mean that we can do the entire project as outlined by the Rivne club originally.

If anyone has any questions about the project and missed the club presentation in July, please contact Roger for further information.

Update on the Rivne Project (September 2017)

We all leave this Friday night, September 29th, en route to Ukraine with a 2-day stop in Warsaw.

It looks as if we have the funding in place for the complete project provided the team feels comfortable with our on-site visit in Rivne. Assuming this is the case then to complete our funding we will partner with the Toronto club. To do this we will need to support one of their Foundation global grant projects (something we have done in the past). The following motion needs to come to the club:

“That the Rotary Club of Alliston support The Rotary Club of Toronto, providing $3,000 USD towards global grant #1529550 which is for building 30 blocks of toilets for girls in rural and slum schools in India”

This money will come from the Alliston World Community Service budget of $6,000 CDN.

The highlights of this Toronto project are as follows:

This project is worth $35,000 USD with all of the appropriate Foundation matches;

It is in the communities of Palghar, Jawhar, Dahanu and Vidarbha with a total population of 500,000;

It is part of a long-term project which the Indian Rotarians will be undertaking in similar geographic areas within the next 2 to 5 years;

Training for the use of the toilets will be provided; and

The total number of toilets to be built is 120 which means the cost per toilet is $291.

Pictures of similar toilets are shown below.

This similar problem we saw in Tanzania but these Indian schools do have access to running water.

More details can be provided since we have a copy of the proposal as approved by the Foundation in our files. Bill, David, and I have looked over the details and are pleased to recommend the project, especially with the support of The Rotary Foundation which will multiply our money to $10,500 USD.

Our Rotary Foundation is celebrating it's 100th Anniversary this year. Each year Rotarians from our district walk together to raise funds for our Rotary Foundation. This years walk was in Whitby, Ontario and was hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Whitby and Whitby Sunrise. There were about 250 Rotarians walking this year the 5 km trail along the beautiful shoreline of Lake Ontario.

The walk featured many stops along the way to highlight the work of the 2 host Rotary Clubs. Many families participated and there was a passport to get stamped and a trivia contest with questions to answer along the route. We finished the morning with a lunch and music from students in a song writing program from local schools. Over $100,000.00 was raised by Rotarians, family and friends. Congrats to the organizers for a wonderful day!

We had visitors tonight: District Governor Neil Phillips, and Assistant District Governor Sam Veerasinghsm. They were both presented with our New Rotary Club of Alliston golf shirts as a thank you for their support.

Top Left: District Governor Neil Phillips, Top Right: Assistant District Governor Sam Veerasinghs Bottom(from left to right): Co President Maureen Royle, District Governor Neil Phillips, Co-president John McFarland, Assistant District Governor Sam Veersinghs

The Artists at the Gibson are having an Exhibition in the Gallery beginning September 8 with the opening on that evening. Rotarians are invited to be at the opening. Tickets are available at the Gibson Centre front desk or on the website: www.gibsoncentre.com

Rotarians – before your long weekend settles in, don't forget to mark your calendars and make plans for the following weekend! Come out and celebrate 100 years of the Rotary Foundation at the 2017 District 7070 Foundation Walk in Whitby on Sunday Sept 10. Join fellow Rotarians & Rotaractors with friends and family on Sunday Sept 10, 2017 for the annual District 7070 walk in support of the Rotary Foundation. Enjoy a leisurely walk along the beautiful waterfront trail in Whitby. (Long-range weather report looks lovely.) The walk will feature live music, local craft beer, prizes and trivia. Dogs welcome, or any other animal on a leash. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served. It's a day of awesome fun for the whole family. Doors open at 8:30 am for breakfast and welcoming ceremonies. Walk (5Km or less) starts at 10am with lunch and closing ceremonies.

While a fun event on its own, remember it's a key opportunity to raise funds for our Foundation - half of which comes back to our own district in three years to support Club projects through District Grant funding.

If you haven't already done so, please go to the Rotary 7070 website this week to register or click this link: Register Online. We welcome you to bring friends and family to this event, you can add them as guest through your registration.

Your Club President (or designate) should be organising pledges and bringing total funds to the walk. Alternately, if you have any questions re donating or the event itself, do not hesitate to reach out to the Event Chair, Mark Chipman: mark.chipman@rbc.com

Tonight was a an opportunity for the Lions Club of Alliston, and the Alliston Rotary Club to get to know each other. It was a celebration pub night at the Gibson Centre in Alliston. The Rotary and Lions Club will be working on some future projects together.

Despite threatening weather and brief downpour the 2017 edition of the Potato Festival Parade was a great success. This year's parade had a great variety of floats, vehicles, bands and entertainment. A big thanks to the organizing committee and the volunteers for another great evening of family fun.

Here are the winners:

Commercial: 1st place Honda, runner-up Alliston Auto

Non-Commercial: 1st place Next Step Literacy,

Children's: 1st place Girl Guides, runner-up Creative Kids

Thank you to all the organizations and businesses that had and entry in the parade.

The following email was forwarded by member, Irene Byrne, who attended the event, One Book One New Tecumseth, on behalf of Rotary Club of Alliston:

Dear Sue,

I hope you'll convey our appreciation to your club for its continued support of our work in the developing world. Our Amarok Society mothers are showing a lot of bravery and dedication by taking a stand for peace and education in Bangladesh and Pakistan, but it wouldn't be possible without the stand being taken by so many Rotarians across Canada and the US. It means a great deal to us that the Rotary Club of Alliston has continued its support of our operations - please pass along our gratitude, as well as that of the communities who are benefiting through your club's generosity.

It was an exciting evening as Rotarians announced the new board members for this years Rotary Club, as well as plans moving forward for future projects and ideas for new ones. New co-presidents Maureen Royal and John McFarland made a terrific speech indicating their initiatives for the new year. They also expressed their eagerness for the future promotion of the Rotary club of Alliston in the media and other outlets. Other speakers also talked about the Rotary's plans for the new year asking for feedback and ideas from fellow Rotarians.

It was a special evening at the Rotary Club of Alliston's Changeover Night, where we celebrated the beginning of a new year for the Rotary and welcomed our new Presidents, Maureen Royle and John McFarland. The event took place at the Gibson Centre on 63 Tupper Street West, in Alliston, where many Rotarians gather for meetings every Monday (Going forward, every-other-Monday). Past President, Leo Kleiss gave a heart felt speech before passing the torch to Maureen and John, where he reiterated the value the duo will bring to the club. It was a fun night of enjoying tradition and reflecting on our history, as well as a look forward into the future. Thank you Maureen and John for taking on such an important role! You will do a great job!

Last Monday evening, on June 16th, two new members were welcomed into the Rotary Club of Alliston. Last night, Judy Irvine gave her speech to introduce herself and provide insight to the other members about who she is and why she's become a Rotarian. Judy is a lovely person and the Rotary Club of Alliston is pleased to have her working with them. Welcome Aboard Judy!

Rotarian John McFarland with Brushamania Winner of Colouring Contest at St. Pauls CS, Prize donated by Nu-Tek Electric (dinner at Swiss Chalet)

700 Students (K- Grade 2) from St. Paul's Catholic School and Ernest Cumberland Public School participated in the Brushamania program

Brushamania is a a Rotary program to promote oral health in young children. The Rotary Club of Alliston and Kind Dentistry have partnered for the last number of years at the elementary schools in Alliston. This year we had 2 schools participating, St. Pauls Catholic School and Ernest Cumberland, with approximately 700 children attending the presentation by Dr. Rob Kirsh from Kind Dentistry. He was assisted by his staff Terri Lynn Nimmons and Amanda Manual. The children learn about oral hygiene and how to take care of their teeth. Rotary Club of Alliston, Kind Dentistry and Nu-Tek Electric sponsors the program with the purchase of toothbrushes and toothpaste for all participating children. Nu-Tek Electric and Kind Dentistry sponsor a colouring contest for the students at each school. The donated prizes were an Electric Toothbrush and a gift card for Dinner at Swiss Chalet. Volunteer Rotarians were at both schools to hand out the Oral Health Kits to the students. Thank you to Kind Dentistry, Nu-Tek Electric and all the volunteers.

Reverend Kim McArthur and Sheila Dickson spoke passionately about the The Village Kids Club which operates out of St. Andrew Anglican Church in Alliston. The program offers an after school program for children in our community. The children learn skills like cooking, sewing, woodworking, drumming as well as getting homework help from volunteer mentors. The children come from all different schools and are between ages 7-13 years. Teachers can refer students to the program. The program is offered free of charge and is in it's second year of operation with 40 children attending. If you would like to volunteer or know of a child that would benefit from the program, please visit their website. For more information please visit their website below.

President Leo Kleiss, Rotarians John and Cora Van Laar, and Lorne Kenney (John, Cora and Lorne are Rotarians from Rotary Club of Collingwood South Georgian Bay

Rotarians John and Cora Van Laar spoke to the club on Monday, April 24 about the Back to School program in the Philippines.

John and Cora are members of the Rotary Club of Collingwood South Georgian Bay in District 7010, and John is an Honourary member of the RC Cebu West, PHILIPPINES. John and Cora are the founders of the ” Back to School " project and they shared pictures and stories of the project's work. For more information, visit their website.

Rotary Club of Alliston presents dictionaries to the all the Grade 5 students in four public schools in Alliston. During the presentation the students learn a little about what Rotary does in our community and in the world. The students receive their own personalized copy of the Rotary Dictionary to use to help them with reading and writing now and into the future. Thank you to Joan Hayward for organizing and to Dave, Darlene and Joanne for the presentations.

Be there for our Club Meeting on January 23...You won't want to miss our speaker..

Emily Boiteau is the Donor Relations Coordinator for ShelterBox Canada. She manages all donations and plays a key role as the first point of contact for donors and supporters at the Toronto-based national office. Emily is a graduate from the College of Arts and Science from the University of Saskatchewan and after traveling to disaster-prone countries and volunteering with local and international non-profits, chose to pursue a career at ShelterBox Canada. Emily is eager to work closely with ShelterBox Canada supporters to help ensure that no family is without shelter. Emily is originally from Alberta and in her free time enjoys knitting, cooking and exploring the outdoors.